County GOP chair arrested on charge of police impersonation

LAS VEGAS (AP) — A county GOP chairman in Nevada is hitting back at the sheriff's deputy who arrested him for impersonating a Las Vegas police officer.

William "Bill" Carns, 45, was stopped around 2:30 p.m. Monday near a Wal-Mart in Pahrump, the Nye County Sheriff's office said.

Cited for driving an unregistered vehicle and fictitious registration, authorities said the Nye County Republican Central Committee chairman provided an officer identification number with the Las Vegas police department to get out of the initial tickets.

Carns said Tuesday that the officer misinterpreted the situation and the law in arresting him. He declined to discuss the registration citations, saying he was driving a vehicle registered to an entity and will dispute all of the allegations.

Carns said he had argued with a snarky deputy before saying he was a former officer when questioned.

"I don't think he likes being challenged and debated," Carns said of the deputy.

But authorities also said this was the third time Carns, who lives in Pahrump, made such claims and provided an officer number to avoid a citation. He now also faces a gross misdemeanor charge of impersonation a peace officer.

The other two incidents were similar and occurred in the last six months, Carns said. "When police essentially ask me where I get my information from, I will bring it up. I don't just start a conversation with it," he said.

Nye County Sheriff's Sgt. David Boruchowitz responded to Carns' claims, saying: "We don't arrest people for misunderstandings."

Las Vegas police confirmed Carns was an officer from February 1995 until he resigned in May 1996.

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